Buyology

Truth and Lies About Why We Buy

By: Martin Lindstrom

Narrated by: Don Leslie

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on the single largest neuromarketing study ever conducted, Buyology reveals surprising truths about what attracts our attention and captures our dollars. Among the long-held assumptions and myths Buyology confronts:

Sex doesn't sell - people in skimpy clothing and provocative poses don't persuade us to buy products.

Despite government bans, subliminal advertising is ubiquitous - from bars to supermarkets to highway billboards.

Color can be so iconic that the sight of the robin's egg blue of a certain famous jewelry brand significantly raises women's heart rates.

Companies shamelessly borrow from religion and ritual - like the ritual, made up by a bored American bartender, of drinking a Corona with a lime - to seduce our interest.

"Cool" brands, like iPods, trigger our mating instincts.

The fact is, so much of what we thought we knew about why we buy is wrong. Drawing on a three-year, 7 million dollar, cutting-edge brain scan study of over 2000 people from around the world, marketing guru Martin Lindstrom's revelations will captivate anyone who's been seduced - or turned off - by marketer's relentless efforts to win our loyalty, our money and our minds.

Packed with entertaining stories about how we respond to such well-known products and companies as Marlboro, Calvin Klein, Ford, and American Idol, Buyology is a fascinating tour into the mind of today's consumer.

©2008 Martin Lindstrom (P)2008 Random House Audio

Must read!

Amazing book with useful, real and good examples for any kind and size of business you lead.

The future of neuromarketing

Martin Lindstrom did a great job laying out the lies and the truth about our buying habits and why we buy what we buy every day. Thernelan science behind buying discussed by Lindstrom is very fascinating and scary at the same time.

I'm a Marketer, and this book is really good!

I'm a 12 year marketing professional. I've referenced and recommended this book to young marketers and want to be marketers several times. If you are a young marketer, you should read this book early in your career and start adopting & adapting what you learn into what you sell.

I thought this book was filled with good information, new explanations and insights into marketing that the average consumer would not be aware of, and great ideas for current marketers if they are listening to it through the lens of selling their products. I have pages of notes from this book on things I am not doing for my products that I will be soon.

The negative reviews I read prompted me to leave a review of my own in defense of the book because they seem so silly, unmerited, and short sighted. Arguing the author seems boastful and stretched the information is pretty boastful in itself- leading me to believe some of the reviews weren't reading the book to learn, but to feel good about what they want to boast they already know. The book points out instant gratification techniques used by marketers, but not being able to listen to a book that uses real brand examples is just non-sense if you're looking to come away with practical applications from it.

At this point in history I think we all know books are written to be lengthened to hit a certain page threshold so they can be more easily sold. The question isn't whether the book can be condensed, but the quality of examples used to highlight the major points. I think the examples were of quality.

The book took me a long time to listen to, but all good books do because I pause for notes along the way. I encourage you, if you are considering listening to any book and you get bored easily- to speed up the time to 1.5x to 2x depending on how quickly you process information. I listen to all my books like this.

Great listen- thank you! After listening to this book, I bought 2 more from the same author. I have 30 minutes left in Brand-Washed and it's also very good! Enjoy the read!

If you make a living selling anything at all

then this is an excellent and intelligent explanation as to why we do what we do. Informative from start to finish and an important read for anyone who does any kind of marketing at all

Good, not Great

Good, not great. There is a lot of fluff and not a significant amount of detail, which makes sense since it's a plug for the author's business.

Well worth the read and or ear power

I found this book to be very intriguing. It really peals back some of the mystery behind branding and the core of marketing techniques and methods. It gives excellent examples of the level of depth and extent to which companies will go to make us aware of their brands. It covers some shocking facts and figures of how profoundly today's society has been affected by brand marketing. One of my favorite points was the idea of brand recognition success by judging if an item passes the "smashable" test. If the product is broken into hundred parts would you still be a recognized it? (i.e. a Coke bottle or an iPod).

I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking to further their knowledge of the science/art of marketing and branding.

Nothing new

Many people are familiar with most of the advertising tricks described in this book. Nothing jaw dropping.

Too long ...

Interesting findings that could be reduced to 2 hours. It's very frustrating to wait for the interesting parts that make about 5% of the book.

Oweeeee

Martin is a f’n genius and I bow to this book!
Wow sums it up!

Great read about marketing and buying behavior

Worth the time to read this. I love books that challenge conventional thinking. Martin Lindstrom does a great job.